It is clear very quickly that Vivian is a complete Mary Sue. It allows us to get a BIT of backstory, but only a bit. has become progressively farther along the road to a surveillance state, so the route she takes is complex, and had far too much detail. Empress of Forever starts a bit like a movie where the Bored Super Rich Person Who Still Doesn't Take It For Granted (I forget which movie that was) Who Walks Away From It All to do something mysterious. I requested this knowing that I loved Gladstone's Craft series, and that he can write an engrossing and unusual fantasy world when he puts his mind to it.

Trapped between the Pride, a ravening horde of sentient machines, and a fanatical sect of warrior monks who call themselves the Mirrorfaith, Viv must rally a strange group of allies to confront the Empress and find a way back to the world and life she left behind.Ī magnificent work of vivid imagination and universe-spanning action, Empress of Forever is a feminist Guardians of the Galaxy crossed with Star Wars and spiced with the sensibility and spirit of Iain M.

Rebellion is literally impossible to consider-until Vivian arrives. The end of time is ruled by an ancient, powerful Empress who blesses or blasts entire planets with a single thought. A terrifying instant later, Vivian Liao is catapulted through space and time to a far future where she confronts a destiny stranger and more deadly than she could ever imagine. In the chilly darkness of a Boston server farm, Viv sets her ultimate plan into motion. On the eve of her greatest achievement, she's trying to outrun those who are trying to steal her success. A feminist Guardians of the Galaxy-a smart, swashbuckling, wildly imaginative adventure of a rag-tag team of brilliant misfits, dangerous renegades, and enhanced outlaws in a war-torn future.Ī wildly successful innovator to rival Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, Vivian Liao is prone to radical thinking, quick decision-making, and reckless action.

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone